Big Man On Campus:Clinton knew what to do when congress shirked its responsibility to pass a budget, he shut down the federal government. Obama is an idealistic weakling.

uh....that's not how it works. Without a budget Congress still has to pass a bill authorizing money for basic services to continue(medicare/SS payments, payroll for essential employees/military service members, etc). That's what happened under Clinton. The President can't just say "nobody come in on Monday, we're shuttin' this thing down"

Big Man On Campus:This is because every federal agency with a budget had no idea how much they could spend in the first quarter, so they cut back on overhead spending like it was going out of style.

Obama =/= Clinton

Clinton knew what to do when congress shirked its responsibility to pass a budget, he shut down the federal government. Obama is an idealistic weakling.

Actually no. It's because farm income has to be reported and taxes paid by Jan 15th much like regular income has to be reported and taxes paid by April 15th. What you are seeing is witheld income/taxes that are being sent in causing a bump in the revenue numbers just like every year.

I wonder what issue was driven in to the ground with congressional hearings and froth and idiotic political theatre that allowed the GOP to avoid talking about the fact that the economy continues to be fine and government spending has decreased pretty consistently...

ChuDogg:I'm really surprised there are still people under the illusion that the United States government can be or will be fiscally solvent at some point. You will all be in a rude awakening in a few years.

We're fiscally solvent right now and will be tomorrow. So I don't now what you're talking about.

DamnYankees:ChuDogg: I'm really surprised there are still people under the illusion that the United States government can be or will be fiscally solvent at some point. You will all be in a rude awakening in a few years.

We're fiscally solvent right now and will be tomorrow. So I don't now what you're talking about.

ChuDogg:DamnYankees: ChuDogg: I'm really surprised there are still people under the illusion that the United States government can be or will be fiscally solvent at some point. You will all be in a rude awakening in a few years.

We're fiscally solvent right now and will be tomorrow. So I don't now what you're talking about.

Not according to the CBO.

We're going to declare bankruptcy tomorrow? Are you aware of something no one else is?

DamnYankees:ChuDogg: I'm really surprised there are still people under the illusion that the United States government can be or will be fiscally solvent at some point. You will all be in a rude awakening in a few years.

We're fiscally solvent right now and will be tomorrow. So I don't now what you're talking about.

Have you looked at forecasts for the percentage of revenues which interest on debt will take up?

We can start with the bloated military. If the air force or army leaders don't want that fancy new weapons system being pushed by an influential congressman, don't buy it. It wouldn't hurt for our carriers to spend a bit more time in US ports. After that we can move on to foreign aid to countries with leaders who bank the money in Switzerland. Maybe some Medicare repairs to eliminate the tens of billions of fraud it gets hit with every year. Also pay and benefit cuts for ALL federal politicians and no more farm subsidies to corporate farms. And last ,but certainly not least, entitlement reform. Get the ball rolling.

Mr. Eugenides: It's because farm income has to be reported and taxes paid by Jan 15th much like regular income has to be reported and taxes paid by April 15th. What you are seeing is witheld income/taxes that are being sent in causing a bump in the revenue numbers just like every year.

Bam. Happens every year, followed shortly by a clone of the linked article.